Arsenal need more than an Iranian Messi

Rumour has it that Arsenal's summer transfer activities are already under way as they are in the market for two young strikers.

FC Nurnberg's Josip Drmic, who has managed sixteen Bundesliga goals in just 27 games this season, despite denying talks with Arsenal has been strongly linked to the Gunners and Sardar Azmoun, dubbed "the Iranian Messi" due his silky skills talked of his being honoured to be in "serious talks" with Arsenal.

Arsenal's striker situation has come under constant scrutiny this season. Whether Olivier Giroud is good enough for a team with trophy ambition has been often debated and his lack of backup has always been a worry. Nicklas Bendtner has said that he will leave Arsenal in the summer and Yaya Sanogo is yet to score for Arsenal during the small number of first team chances he's had this season.

All year Arsenal have been linked with all sorts of big name strikers. In January Alvaro Morata, Diego Costa, Dimitar Berbatov, Fernando Llorente, Karim Benzema and many others had supposedly agreed to sign for Arsenal but no deal transpired. Since Mario Mandzukic has been added to the list, with Berbatov and Llorente seemingly booted off it. The question is, should Arsenal go after one?

I'm sure the answer will be a fairly resounding "yes." However, should this be at the expense of Giroud's Arsenal career and should he be sold or sent to the bench?

At the moment, Giroud is valued at around £15million and with Wenger allegedly being handed a £100million war chest for the summer would it make sense to cash in on him?

I have often been an enthusiastic supporter of Giroud. His 13 goals in 29 games along with the large number of chances he creates have been an integral part of Arsenal's season. His aerial ability adds a Plan B to Arsenal's play, though whether or not Arsenal choose to play long balls out of necessity is a different matter, and his lack of pace could easily be counter-parted with some pacey wingers or maybe even a quicker strike partner.

However, Arsenal must be more worried about helping get the most out of Mesut Ozil. It was noticeable that Ozil's drop in form coincided with the injury to Theo Walcott. After that injury every time the German looked up he had no support in front of him on the counter attack and with Giroud's lack of pace and some of his lack of confidence in front of goal has caused some of the incredible number of chances Ozil creates to be spurned.

There are plenty of more naturally talented centre-forwards out there who could score more goals than Giroud will be capable of even on top form. Now that Arsenal's financial muscle is really starting to come through the world's top strikers are affordable for Arsenal. Two of the strikers who have been linked with Arsenal who really catch the eye are Diego Costa and Karim Benzema.

Both have been in scintillating form in recent weeks in Spain and Benzema has formed a partnership with Angel Di Maria which has at times been enough to match Ronaldo and Bale. Who knows, moving out of those two's shadows could even help Benzema flourish. The Frenchman is a very complete player.

Real Madrid move forward with real pace (whisper it but Ozil would have a field day with that support) and Benzema does not hold them up. He is very strong in the air and has all the technical attributes you would expect of a Real Madrid superstar. Diego Costa has proved that he is good enough for both the Brazil and Spain national teams and his 25 goals in 30 La Liga games makes him one of the world's most clinical strikers.

If his £32million release clause is still existent he would be an excellent buy but whether Arsenal would be able to tempt him away from the sensational situation Atletico are currently in is another matter. The same applies for Karim Benzema but Madrid like to change their strikers like a poorly functioning time machine changes location so Arsene Wenger might finally be able to get the striker he has been chasing after for many years.

As for Drmic and Azmoun, the two have the potential to be world beaters in the future but neither would be good enough to lead the line of a team with title ambitions quite yet. Having said that, Drmic has proved that he can score goals at a high level so he could be an excellent backup to whomever Arsenal's first choice striker may be next season.

Were Arsenal to line up at the start of next season with one of Diego Costa and Karim Benzema, Josip Drmic and Yaya Sanogo as their striking options surely that would strike fear into Arsenal's opponents?

With Giroud's personal problems and the constant criticism he gets whatever he does would it not make sense for Arsenal to bite the bullet and sell him and replace him with one top quality striker and a young, promising backup?

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DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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